Minnesota Soccer Scarves and their History

When Bill Stenross was writing the Loon Call blog, he accumulated a history of soccer scarves for Minnesota’s professional teams.

This is in no way a complete history and if you have other photos of scarves and the story behind them, please email editor@fiftyfive.one and share them with us! We will add them to our list and credit you for the information and photos.

2004 – Supporter Scarf

This is the first supporters scarf of the modern era of soccer in Minnesota. It features the Minnesota state motto and the slogan “Stand Your Ground”.
Contributed by Anthony de Sam Lazaro.

2005 – Supporter Scarf

This celebrates the time that the Minnesota Thunder played at the “Jimmy”, a stadium in St. Paul. It is also the first scarf to reference the Dark Clouds.
Contributed by Anthony de Sam Lazaro.

2006 – Minnesota Lightning (Women’s Team) Supporter Scarf

For a brief moment, Minnesota was blessed with a Women’s team called the Minnesota Lightning. Some supporters put together this scarf to support the team.
Contributed by Anthony de Sam Lazaro.

2006 – Supporters Scarf

For the first time in the Thunder’s history, Buzz Lagos was not coaching the team. Amos Magee, former Thunder and MLS player came back to Minnesota and coached the team for the 2006 season.
Contributed by Anthony de Sam Lazaro and Brian Quarstad.

2007 – Minnesota Thunder (Supporter Created)

This Scarf featured the dominant colors of the Minnesota Thunder and the State Motto L’Etoile Du Nord.
Contributed by Wes Burdine.

2008 – Supporters Scarf

The 2008 scarf featured different colors on each side. . According to Tim Hayes, the difference in colors was due to fans having multiple choices and the scarf color was tired that year. two different colors because the voting for the scarf that year was tied. The two colors are representative of the two new colors the rebranded team wore that year.
Contributed by Tim Hayes.

2009 – Supporters Scarf

The back features the year the Thunder were founded (1990). Sharp looking scarf.

2010 – Supporters Scarf

Love the bars on this supporters scarf, and I “believe” this is the first appearance of Nessie on a scarf. Nessie is the Scottish Lake Monster the fans adapted after saying NSC quickly which sounded like Nessie.
Contributed by Kenneth!

2010 – Team Scarf

The script “Stars” seems very 1980’s Miami Vice to me.
Contributed by Kenneth!

2011 – Home Opener Freebie

A free scarf that was hung up around the Twin Cities with vouchers for tickets to the home opener.
Contributed by Anthony de Sam Lazaro

2011 – NSC Minnesota Stars

Love the inclusion of Nessie.The team uniform also had Nessie on the tail of the jersey.

2011 – Supporters Scarf

The first supporter scarf that doesn’t feature the colors of the team, with interestingly enough the twitter handle for the Dark Clouds.
Contributed by Kenneth!

2012 – Minnesota Stars FC (Team Created)

Celebrates the 2011 NASL championship and again features the State Motto on the back. When the team was taken over by the NASL, they changed the name to Minnesota Stars FC, dropping the NSC from the name.
Contributed by Wes Burdine.

2012 – Dark Clouds Supporter Scarf

The supporters group scarf references a great quote by Simone Bracallelo from before the NASL 2011 final and includes the logo of a great Minnesota beer who has donated many cases of beer to the cause of soccer supporting. Also, Argyle is never wrong on a supporters scarf.

2013 Minnesota United FC Team Scarf

This might be my favorite scarf. I love the colors, it features the great Minnesota Crest, and the words are nice and legible so when you hold it up high, it’s easy to see. Plus, the back has the legendary “loonstache” on the back.

2013 Dark Clouds Supporters Scarf

Wasn’t the biggest fan of the pattern on this scarf (nor the slogan), but this one has definitely grown on me. I find I wear this one the most these days, because wound up around your neck it’s just a great looking scarf.

2013 “This Fucking Team” Scarf

A beautiful scarf, one that I would love to get a hold of, that celebrates the words of coach Manny Lagos that he uttered after the team lost the 2012 Soccer Bowl Final. At the time, it wasn’t clear if there would be a team the next year.

2014 – Team Scarf

The new scarf for the 2014 season from the team. They changed the lettering from white to blue, and the fringe from black to white. They got rid of the loon stash, but I love the stripes and the star on the back side, so I’ll forgive them.

2014 – Supporter Scarf

The new supporters scarf. Spread the Darkness!

2014 – Loon’s Nest Scarf

Brian Hanf created the Loon’s Nest as a supporters group for families. I love the logo.

2014 – July 4th Friendly versus Mexico U-21 Supporters Scarf

Designed by the amazing KJ, these scarves were only sold at the July 4th friendly against Mexico U-21. The back side is the Minnesota State motto in Spanish.

2014 – Swansea Friendly Supporters Scarf

Another Summer friendly, another supporters scarf designed by KJ. I love the two birds facing off in the middle of the scarf. The back side reads “Dark Clouds Follow” in Welsh.

2014 – Swansea City Team Scarf

The team scarf with Minnesota United FC on one half and Swansea City AFC on the other. The reverse side is the same. Thanks to Brian Hanf for the picture!

2014 – TCF Bank Doubleheader Supporters Scarf

This one, again designed by Kevin Joseph, celebrates the double header at TCF Bank stadium on August 2nd when Manchester City played Olympiacos and Minnesota United played the Ottawa Fury in a league game. All 4 teams are from different countries and so features all their flags, and the back reads “Global Darkness”.

Thanks to all who contributed with pictures and information. We would still like more information about some of these scarves, so anyone who was around when these were created and could shed a little light on them, please email editor@fiftyfive.one.